


A Cup of Coffee

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Loki's Kids, M/M, awkward!Steve, pre-Steve Rogers/Thor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 14:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1782532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Steve wanted was a cup of coffee, but instead he got roped into watching Loki's kids while Tony goes in search of their missing father. Normally, he would be happy to help, but he's never been good with kids. Thankfully, Thor is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cup of Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt that I stumbled across long ago. I don't remember the original prompt, or who wrote it, but I wanted to thank whoever suggested that Steve might not be great with kids. You made this fic possible.

"Come on Steve, help me here!" Tony said. Jörmungandr was squirming out of his arms, and Fenrir was hanging on his leg.

"I don't know what to do!" Steve said. He regretted ever coming down from his room. He'd just wanted a cup of coffee.

Tony readjusted his grip on the squirming infant in his arm. "Loki said he'd be back in a few minutes, but it's been a half an hour and I have no idea where he is. Hela keeps asking for him and Fenrir won't stop crying. Will you watch them for me? I have to go find Loki."

"I don't know how to take care of kids," Steve said as he took a step back.

Tony walked up to him and dumped Mundy into his arms. "You'll do fine," he said as he detached Fenrir from his leg. "Their breakfast is in the fridge in the marked containers. Don't mix them up. Mundy will throw up if you feed him anything but what's in his container. If you need help, ask Jarvis to get Thor. He's good with them." Tony gently pushed Fenrir toward Steve and Fenrir took it as an invitation to wrap himself around Steve's leg. Tony smiled at the kids. "Be good for Steve, okay? I'll be right back. I'm going to go find your daddy."

"Tony wait-" Steve started, but Tony was already fleeing down into his lab. Fenrir clung to his leg so tightly that it almost hurt, then he started to cry. "Shhh," Steve said. Mundy looked at his big brother, then started crying too.

Hela was the only one that wasn't crying. She walked over to the window and put a hand on it. A red and yellow blur flew past. "Papa," she said.

"Your papa is going to get your daddy," Steve said. "He's going to be right back."

If Hela heard him, she didn't respond. Mundy and Fenrir howled even louder.

The sight of tears running down Mundy and Fenrir's faces pushed Steve into a panic. Villains he could handle, children were another story. "What am I supposed to do?" Steve asked himself quietly. He tried to think of everything he'd seen the mothers in the park do to calm their children, but his mind kept drawing blanks. All he could focus on was the sound of Mundy and Fenrir's cries.

"Captain Rogers? May I assist you in any way?" Jarvis asked.

Steve didn't want to bother Thor, but he desperately needed help. "How do you make kids stop crying?" he asked.

"I would recommend sitting and rocking them," Jarvis said.

"Okay," Steve said under his breath. "I can do this." He walked over to the couch, dragging Fenrir along with him. He sat down and readjusted Mundy in his arms, then reached down and gently lifted Fenrir into his lap. Once they were both settled in his arms he tried to rock them. They stopped squirming so much when he started bouncing them, but their loud cries didn't diminish. "Shhh, it's okay," Steve said desperately. "Everything's fine."

Mundy and Fenrir's tears soaked through his thin cotton t-shirt before Hela walked over and settled down on the couch beside Steve. She didn't say anything, just snuggled up to Steve's side. "Hey Hela," Steve said, trying to keep all the panic out of his voice. "Do you know how to make your brothers stop crying?"

Hela shook her head.

"Captain Rogers, would you like me to wake Master Thor?" Jarvis asked after an eternity of crying.

"Please," Steve said. He didn't care about waking Thor up anymore. He just wanted the crying to stop before they woke up the entire city.

Thor managed to get downstairs in less than two minutes. His hair was wild and he wasn't wearing a shirt, but he had Mjolnir in his hand. He spotted Steve on the couch within seconds. "Friend Steve," Thor said. "Friend Jarvis said you needed my assistance. What is the problem?"

As soon as they saw Thor, Mundy and Fenrir went silent. Steve flushed. "I didn't mean to- uh- wake you, but I couldn't get Mundy and Fenrir to stop crying and Tony said you were good with them-"

"Where is Loki?" Thor asked. He let himself relax out of his defensive stance.

Mundy tried to crawl toward Thor, but Steve tightened his grip on him before he could squirm all the way out of his lap. "I don't know. Tony went out to look for him," Steve said.

Thor frowned and reached out for Mundy. The infant reached his pudgy arms out toward Thor and hiccuped when the large man held his to his bare chest. "Did Loki say where was going?"

Steve shook his head and moved Fenrir into a more comfortable position.

"That is distressing," Thor said, then he sighed. "But I am sure Friend Stark can find him without my assistance." He sat down in a chair beside the couch and rocked Mundy. "How long has it been since he left?"

Steve looked at the clock beside the bookcase. "Twenty minutes," he said.

"And Mundy and Fenrir have been crying since Friend Tony left?"

Steve nodded.

"You should have called sooner," Thor said. "I could have saved you all some distress."

"I didn't want to wake you up," Steve said.

Hela detached herself from Steve's side and moved into Thor's lap. Thor smiled down at her and wrapped an arm around her thin waist. "I would not have cared," Thor said. "I love my niece and my nephews."

"You must be good with kids," Steve said, then he sighed. "I don't think they like me."

"Nonsense. Hela? You are fond of Friend Steve, yes?"

Hela looked at Steve, then back at Thor and nodded.

"See?" Thor said. "They are fond of you."

"But I couldn't get them to stop crying," Steve said.

"Nor can I, most of the time," Thor said. "They just wanted to see someone familiar." Thor looked down at Hela, then over at Steve. "Did Friend Tony leave you with instructions for their breakfast? I believe I heard Hela's stomach growl."

“Yeah, Tony said their breakfast was in the fridge, in specially marked containers,” Steve said.

“Would you like to fix it, or should I?” Thor asked.

Steve was quick to stand up and push Fenrir onto Thor’s already crowded lap. “I’ll do it. I don’t want them to start crying again.”

“As you wish,” Thor said. He let Fenrir curl up against his bare chest beside his brother. Hela scooted onto the edge of his lap.

Steve hurried to the kitchen. He opened the massive, stainless-steel fridge and looked for the containers. They weren’t hard to find. There were in the very front, and each child’s name was written on the front of the containers in Loki’s spidery handwriting. “Jarvis,” Steve said as he pulled out all the containers, “how am I supposed to cook these?”

“Fenrir’s food needs to be microwaved for thirty seconds. Jörmungandr’s food needs to be microwaved for a minute and a half. Hela’s food doesn’t need to be cooked,” Jarvis said.

Steve looked down at the small containers. “Can I put the containers in the microwave?”

“Yes,” Jarvis said.

“Thanks,” Steve said.

“You’re welcome, Captain Rogers,” Jarvis said.

Steve popped Hela’s container open while Mundy’s food was in the microwave. Bite-sized, colorful pieces of… something were all that made up Hela’s breakfast. Steve couldn’t tell what they were, but them smelled sweet and vaguely fruity. He found a small, plastic purple fork and stuck it in the counter. When the microwave went off, Steve pulled Mundy’s food out and stuck Fenrir’s in. Steve couldn’t really tell what Mundy’s breakfast consisted of. It smelled kind of like fish, but didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen. Fenrir’s food was the only thing that Steve could recognize, but it turned his stomach. All Fenrir got to eat was barely-cooked steak. Steve hesitated as he looked down at the three vastly different containers of food, they didn’t seem exactly kid friendly, but Loki’s kids weren’t like other kids, so Steve shrugged and carried the containers to the table.

“Breakfast is ready,” Steve said.

“Wonderful,” Thor said. He nudged Hela off his lap, then stood up. Mundy was cradled in one of his large, muscular arms and Fenrir was in the other. “Come, Hela,” he said, then he took off for the kitchen/dining room.

Steve followed behind him, but Thor had everything under control. He sat each kid in front of the container they were supposed to have, knelt down, and started to spoon-feed Mundy his fish-like food. “Can I do anything?” Steve asked. He felt even more out of place than he normally did.

“Make sure Fenrir eats his food,” Thor said. He smiled up at Steve. “He’s fond of throwing it under the table and hiding it in his clothes.”

“In his clothes?” Steve asked.

“Once Loki found an entire steak in his pants,” Thor said.

Fenrir grinned happily and Steve had to laugh. “Okay,” he said. “Food only goes in your mouth. Got it.”

Hela was halfway through her container of food when she stopped eating and dropped her fork into the fruit. “Hela, are you not hungry? I heard your stomach growling,” Thor said.

Hela slid out of her chair. “Daddy,” she said. “Papa.”

“What about them?” Steve asked.

Hela didn’t answer; instead, she walked toward the staircase. Steve ran after her. “Hela, where are you-”

Tony and Loki popped up at the top of the stairs before Steve could finish his sentence. “Daddy!” Hela squealed. “Papa!”

Loki swung Hela up into his arms. She wrapped her slender arms around his neck. Loki closed his eyes and smiled as he hugged her. Steve frowned. There was a bruise forming on Loki’s cheek. He walked up to Tony and pulled him aside, away from the ears of Loki and his children. “What happened?” he asked.

Tony’s eyes flashed dangerously. He glanced toward Loki. “He got captured. Some chick called the Enchantress,” he said. His face softened. “I told him not to go out alone. I told him.”

Loki walked over to the table where Mundy got so excited that he spit his mouthful of food into Thor’s face. Loki smiled and ruffled Mundy’s curly black hair. “He’s alright, though?” Steve asked.

“Yeah,” Tony said. “I got there just in time. They got in a few hits, but nothing serious.” Tony’s eyes followed Loki as he greeted Fenrir and pulled a piece of meet out of his shirt. “Loki and I didn’t have enough firepower to take her and her minions on. By now she’s probably gone.”

“We’ll find her,” Steve said.

“You’re goddamn right we will,” Tony said. He walked over to the table and sat down beside Fenrir. Hela crawled into his lap.

Steve stayed where he was. Now that Tony and Loki were back, he was free to go, but he couldn’t make himself move. Somehow, Thor snuck over to his side without him noticing. “Friend Steve,” Thor said. Steve jumped and Thor smiled. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s fine,” Steve said, “and you can just call me Steve.”

“Steve,” Thor repeated. “You did well with the children.”

Steve laughed humorlessly. “Yeah. They only cried for twenty minutes.”

Thor grinned. “They were distressed. They would have cried with anyone. Do not take it personally.”

“I just don’t know what to do with kids. You seem like a natural.”

Thor laughed. “I’ve had many years of practice. There are many children on Asgard, and many of them seem drawn to me.”

“Well, you’re great with them,” Steve said. “You should give me some hints. I mean, uh, in case this happens again.”

“Gladly,” Thor said. “I would enjoy teaching you.”

“Hey Thor?” Tony called from the table. “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

Thor looked down at himself. “It is a long story, Friend Tony.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this little fic. As always, if you find any errors or have any constructive criticism, please leave a comment. Have a lovely day!


End file.
